My Philosophy

There are so many different ways that information and knowledge can be processed during the education process. The three main learning theories are Behaviorism Learning Theory, Cognitivism Learning Theory, and Constructivism Learning Theory. The Behaviorism Learning Theory focuses on the learner essentially being passive, responding to environmental stimuli and their behavior is shaped through positive reinforcements or negative reinforcements. The Cognitivism Learning Theory focuses on thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving. The Constructivism Learning Theory focuses on student-centered discovery learning. The theory that I most identify is the Constructivism Learning Theory. I feel like I relate to this theory because I believe that children learn the best through taking in information from their own experiences and discovery. I feel like the knowledge that children gain through their own experiences, is the knowledge that will stick with them for a long time. As a teacher I can take what my students understand and can conceptualize and I can create an activity hat requires them to use their prior knowledge and observations to aid in their learning.

An activity that I can do with my preschool class that involves the Constructivism Learning Theory, would be to hand a basket full of random bits and pieces from different toys and blocks to my students. This will require them to come up with their own ideas of what they should build. To make the activity a little more challenging, I can ask them to build something more specific like a house, farm, building, or car. They will have to take what they already understand about the structure of a house and take that information and use it to build a house out of objects that may not have a direct connection to the construction of a house. This activity will allow my students to draw from their past knowledge and understanding of specific items in order to construct them using their own ideas that they have come up with.